While the direction of climate change cannot be determined based on a single event, the collection of record-breaking winters shows that the planet is getting colder, climate expert John Casey tells Newsmax TV.

"Just about every American can now see that we've had a series of brutal, record-setting winters that are starting earlier, staying longer and breaking records that are 100 and 150 years old," Casey told J.D. Hayworth, who was joined by Republican strategist Ford O'Connell, on "America's Forum" Wednesday.

"Clearly, the planet is getting colder," said Casey, president of the Space and Science Research Corp.

Daniel Stringer had an idea after eying the little lobster-like crustaceans that washed ashore on Balboa Island.

"I'll get the barbeque," said Stringer, who has lived on Balboa Island for 47 years and has never seen the small crabs like the ones that showed up Saturday. "I like mine with butter."

Thousands of mini crabs - which actually look like tiny lobsters or craw fish - created a rim of red along the shoreline, scattered on the sand along the sleepy seaside of Balboa Island in Newport Beach. Most washed up dead at high tide, but some were still alive and swimming near the shoreline.

Passerby stopped to marvel at the unusual sight, some people coming to the aid of the ones that still looked like they had some life to them.

The Coal Hill man found dead in the woods near his home earlier this month died from "canine injuries" from a family member's dogs, according to newly-revealed autopsy results.

Fredrick Crutchfield, 63, was found dead Feb. 4 by a family member. Investigators sent his body to the Arkansas State Crime Lab to determine a cause of death. An autopsy revealed Crutchfield died from loss of blood due to "multiple canine injuries," according to a statement released by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday (Feb. 20).

Deputies said the dogs involved in the death belonged to a family member. The animals have since been impounded, according to the Sheriff's Office.

If you're reading this from anywhere in the United States right now, there's a pretty good chance it's cold outside. We're in the middle of a massive freeze that could last until March, the breadth of which NASA's Terra satellite just captured in the remarkable view you see above. See all that territory blanketed in white? That's snow. It's not cloud patterns, or a representation of wind currents, just a bunch of frozen water atop even colder ground.

Hundreds of daily record lows and at least three all-time record lows have been set as a frigid air mass with a connection to Siberia grips the central and eastern United States with dangerously cold conditions. Friday morning brought the most widespread and intense cold of the winter to many areas, sending temperatures into the 30s below zero as far south as Kentucky.

The cities plotted on this map have recently recorded their lowest temperatures for any date in at least 10 years.

The cities plotted on this map have recently recorded their lowest temperatures for any date in at least 10 years.

Lynchburg, Virginia, plummeted to 11 below zero Friday morning, setting a new all-time record low for any day of the year. The previous record was 10 below zero on Jan. 21, 1985, and Feb. 5, 1996. Impressively, Lynchburg's temperature records go all the way back to 1893.

Flint, Michigan, tied its all-time record low of 25 below zero, originally set Jan. 18, 1976. Weather records in Flint began in 1921.

Earlier this week Erie, Pennsylvania, had tied its all-time record low when it reached 18 below zero Monday. That tied the record set Jan. 19, 1994. Not far away, Jamestown, New York, set an all-time record low of 31 below zero Tuesday, though its records only go back to 1960.

At least 72 daily record lows were set Friday morning from Connecticut to Florida to as far west as Indiana, including major cities such as New York, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Detroit and Cincinnati.

According to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, 647 record lows were tied or broken Sunday through Thursday. This figure includes not only major airport reporting stations, but also smaller cooperative observation sites in rural areas.

More Friday Morning Records

All-time February record lows: Cleveland has broken its all-time record low for the month of February, reaching 17 below zero. The previous February record was minus 16 on Feb. 10, 1899, in the nation's worst arctic outbreak in modern memory. It is also Cleveland's coldest day since Jan. 19, 1994, when the city set its all-time record of 20 below zero.

Animal rescue workers in southern Ontario are struggling to keep up with an influx of injured grebes, a species of waterbird that's fast running out of splashdown spots as the Great Lakes freeze over.

Grebes are smaller cousins to the loon, and spend their entire lives in the air or on the water. But with more than 80 per cent of the Great Lakes covered in ice, grebes are having a tough time finding open water to land in during Ontario's deep freeze. That's forced some grebes to touch down on solid ground, where they lack the ability to walk or take flight again.

"If the grebes land on land, they're dead," said Gail Lenters, who operates the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge, located north of Toronto, near Lake Simcoe.

Comment: It appears to shaping up to be a re-run of last years' mass avian die-off (due to the extreme cold and extensive ice cover), see these March, 2014 reports:

A pair of Michigan photographers captured photos and video of intricate sand structures created by the wind eroding frozen sand at a beach.

Joshua Nowicki, 35, said he spotted the 12-inch-tall structures on Silver Beach in St. Joseph on Valentine's Day and decided to photograph the "sand towers" to make up for missing an opportunity to capture images of similar structures he discovered on a beach about three years ago.

Nowicki captured several images and a short video showing off the structures.

Pictureof the Day

Quoteof theDay

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.

Scientists living under an oppressive regime
decide to clinically study the founders and supporters of evil regimes to determine what common factor is at play in the rise and propagation of man's inhumanity to man.